Ballot for Trooping the Colour tickets opens

The annual ballot for tickets to attend The Queen’s Birthday Parade has officially opened. Trooping the Colour will this year take place on Saturday 11th June 2016.

If you would like to attend this year’s event, you will need to write to the Brigade Major before the balloting closes on February 29th. Once you have written to the Brigade Major, you will be allocated a place in the ballot to be in with a chance of getting tickets to see the annual military showpiece, held at Horse Guards Parade in London.

If you so wish, applicants can also apply for tickets to the Colonel’s Review or Major General’s Review, the two full-scale rehearsals for the Parade held on the two Saturdays before the big Troop.

If you are successful in the ballot and you get tickets, they will cost £30 each. Successful applicants will be notified by post if they have won tickets. If you ballot for the Colonel’s Review, you will pay £10 per ticket, while the Major General’s Review can be attended free of charge providing tickets are applied for and demand doesn’t exceed the available space.

This year’s Birthday Parade will be of particular importance as Her Majesty turns 90 years old. Last year she overtook Queen Victoria to become Britain’s longest reigning monarch.

The maximum tickets applicants can request are three. There is no maximum for the Colonel’s Review or the Major’s Review

How to apply:

Prospective applicants should write a letter to the Brigade Major. It only needs to be simple expressing how many tickets you would like and for what event.

Along with your letter, you must include your own stamped, addressed envelope (addressed to yourself) so that the Brigade Major’s office can send you your confirmation. Put both the letter and self-addressed, stamped envelope inside an envelope and send it to the following address:
Brigade Major
HQ Household Division
Horse Guards
Whitehall
London
SW1A 2AX

Send the letter off at any time between 1st January and the February 28th to enter the ballot.

You’ll be sent a standard confirmation back including a reference number, which you should keep for future reference. The confirmation will include a form, which you should use if you failed to include the number of tickets in the original letter, or wish to request more tickets for one of the reviews.

If you’ve been successful in the ballot, you’ll receive a letter in April which will include instructions for buying tickets, which are sold at £30 per ticket.

Once you’ve bought the tickets, you’ll be able to attend the Parade on Horse Guards on 13th June.

Note: Applicants from Canada, Australia and New Zealand may instead apply to their High Commission in London.